Ancient Hearth

Welcome to my Ancient Hearth

A hearth is the heart of the home. It is where we come to gather, especially at the end of the day. We draw about the fire to warm ourselves; we take in the smells of the cooking, nourishing our bodies; we come to tell stories of our day, nourishing our spirits. Yearning for the wisdom of the past, I hope those who come to this blog will feel the warmth of the hearth.

I am homeschooling my Grade 5 twin girls using Waldorf inspired education and that is the primary focus of this blog.

I have spent quite a bit of time documenting our Grade 1 year, which can be found through the links below. Grade 2 is sparse and for that, I apologize. Grade 3 is even more sparse as life keeps us more and more pressed for time. Nonetheless, I have decided to leave this blog up because I know how much I have relied on other blogs to enhance my children's lives and even if I don't have time to put as much content up as I did when my twins were younger, I hope the efforts I have put out in prior years will help inspire other families who have embarked on their own unique journeys.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

To celebrate spring and the milestone of over 300 followers to Ancient Hearth, I wanted to give away a beautiful Waldorf inspired wall hanging. Handmade using wool roving and lovingly needle felted by me, this hanging is approximately 9" x 12" and can be hung on a wall using the hemp twine attached to it. Would make a lovely addition to a bedroom, school room, or class room.

The Sun Maiden holds a bouquet of spring flowers as she travels through the meadows bringing light and life to the land. A nest of three eggs sits above her head in the tree as wispy clouds drift by and the gentle breeze blows.

To be entered into this giveaway, please leave a comment that you'd like to be entered, along with what you love most about Waldorf schooling, lifestyle, or philosophy! Doesn't have to be long, just interested in seeing what drew you to Waldorf or to this blog. If you share this on your blog, please let me know - along with a link to your blog, and I'll enter you a second time!

A lucky winner will be chosen within a week and the winner will be announced next Sunday! Good luck and blessings to all!

Monday, March 24, 2014

I can't believe spring is already here! My husband recently put up a few shelves in our school room so I could display some of our beloved wooden figures and needle felted treasures. It helps with our rhythm.

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I have so missed blogging, feeling sad that I haven't much time anymore to capture our days and share them with others, but I did go through today and saw about 50 comments left through the years that I hadn't seen and got around to publishing them today. I wanted to thank each and every one of you who reached out and commented on a post I had done. It really meant the world to me - like little hugs across the miles :)

It is so nice to find like-minded friends and others with the passion to nurture and prioritize the health and development of our children. Sharing helps others and reaching out to receive inspiration or to inspire others, in turn, helps so many children. I know I have been so motivated and enlightened by so many amazing mothers, fathers, teachers, and friends out there through the years who took the time to share.

So today, I want to honor all of you and in the spirit of giving, I am going to be making something today to give away as a token of thanks this week! I don't have any plans yet just *what* to make - other than something needle-felted as that is a beloved passion of mine...so stay tuned and enjoy the life that is blooming right under our noses!

Thursday, February 6, 2014

One of our favorite blocks from Grade 4 was the Norse Mythology Block.

There are a lot of wonderful blogs and websites to help inspire creativity, but my favorite books are listed below. Padraic Colum's book is a fine read to fluff out more details for when you are telling one of the myths to your child. But for drawing inspiration, the D’Auelaires book was fantastic!

Here are some of my chalk drawings. I have yet to find the other stories we did - they are buried in my photo log somewhere - but here is something to get you started! I used the D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths for the drawings. They are just stunning and even more so when you get them on the chalkboard. The cover world is a nice starting point before you being the tales so you and your child can familiarize yourselves for further enjoyment.

Here is from Yggdrasil, the World Tree...

Some wonderful more thorough coverage of this block can be found at these links:

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Advent has arrived! For those who celebrate this religious tradition, Waldorf has found a lovely way to tie it into the earth, as well. We begin with the Light of Stones...

Carrie from The Parenting Passageway wrote a beautiful and detailed post on the first week of Advent in relation to Waldorf and how she and her family celebrate. It can be seen here.

In our family, we make our own Advent wreath from branches in our yard, pine cones we have collected, acorn caps, and this year, we rolled red holly balls from our wool roving. My daughters, who are now 10 years old (OMG) made the wreath this year with minimal help from Mom :)

Several years ago, I created a basic tutorial, which can be seen here.

The twins tied the branches to the frame with twine.

I got out some special gifts from nature we have collected through the years...

From our lovely Oak tree in the front of our home...

And pine cones from a park near our house...

Laney got to use the hot glue gun and glued the acorn caps to the branches...

She glued the wool balls and I tied red ribbons on our candle holders this year...